forever
by viviannnnn
Summary: They seem to stay like that Forever but Sakura knows, even Sasuke knows, that Forever is a misguiding word. SasuSaku


**A/N:** Just a practice one-shot to get my blood flowing. Rusty but that's to be expected.

**Forever**

"What are you doing here, Sakura?"

Sakura feels the cool metal of the blade on the curve of her neck and does not risk the chance of turning around for fear of seeing his eyes.

"That's a foolish question, Sasuke." She tries to remain calm and when she speaks she realizes that her voice is too quiet against the already silence in the air.

Sasuke does not speak and only deepens the blade against her neck, drawing a tender line of blood.

"Are we going to stay this way forever or are you going to kill me now?" She asks out of mere curiosity.

"State your purpose."

Sakura manages to scoff. "Now, why would I reveal my objective to you?"

Sasuke thinks she's a bit too calm for a person who is caught hanging by a thread between life and death.

"What are you doing here?" He repeats, this time a little firmer than the first.

This time, she answers, "Spying on you, of course."

His eyes narrow and raises his hand to deal her the finishing blow when she stealthily sees his hesitation and slips out of his grasp. She jumps a few yards away from him, not wanting to be too close but knows well enough that she can't be that far either.

"This isn't a good time to feel hesitation towards your enemy, Sasuke-kun." She taunts him and the feeling is foreign on her tongue.

Sakura is surprised by his next comment and it takes her breath away. "You're not my enemy."

She digests the words carefully and then gives him a few seconds to see the wistful longing that flickers in her eyes before her resolve hardens again.

"You are Sound and I am Leaf." She points to her forehead protector. "We are enemies." And from her back she pulls out her own katana and Sasuke doesn't believe that he didn't see that before.

"Leave." He orders her but does not put away his sword. "This is not your territory."

"My mission is not done." She replies and crouches to a low position. "I wish you would let me finish what I've been set out to do without having to fight."

He stares at her. "Get out, Sakura." He says, warningly. "My team will not be as relenting."

She smirks. "I don't need your team to be relenting." And then she lunges for him. "I need information!"

Sasuke catches her by the wrists and she bends down, swiping her leg underneath him. He flips and she manages to twist out of his hold. Sasuke turns, swiping his sword down just as she brings her sword up.

They meet each other in a deadlock.

"You are well-trained." Sasuke comments and Sakura is forced to remember back to when there was a time, to a time when there was a boy who never gave out compliments so easily.

"This isn't my forte." She grits her teeth under his sheer power and then gives a push forward, enough so the man in front of her takes a step back. She jumps back to put distance between her and her former teammate. "I'm definitely at a disadvantage with you Sasuke." She laughs a little, her eyes boring into his and she is reminded that this is _Sasuke_. And then sheaths her sword as if the scrimmage was merely for fun.

His brows dip a little. "Should you be putting your weapon away so quickly, Sakura?"

She purses her lip and then chooses her word carefully. "You're not a threat to me, Sasuke."

He raises and eyebrow but does not pursue to question her. He knows she will explain.

"If you wanted to kill me, you would have done it the moment I entered this place." She pulls out her gloves and slides them on her hands.

Sasuke doesn't deny this because somewhere deep inside his non-existent heart, he knows it's the truth.

"I assume Itachi is still alive?" She asks casually, glancing at him trying to gauge his expression.

"That is none of your concern." He replies and Sakura notes that his voice holds no anger.

"But it is." She corrects him. "It's part of my mission."

This elicits a reaction from Sasuke. Sakura watches as his eyes narrow a fraction. Something she wouldn't have caught is she wasn't _Sakura_. "If he is your mission, then what are you doing here?"

And then she smiles. "What better place to pry information about Uchiha Itachi than his own brother, Uchiha Sasuke?"

She starts to feel uncomfortable from his smoldering gaze because it's him and he has the ability to revert her back to _twelveyearoldHarunoSakura_.

She is saved from having to change back when a voice enters the hallway they occupy. "In here! I feel a foreign chakra signature."

Sakura snaps her head to where the voice is and is reminded, a bit too late, that someone other than Sasuke resides in this building.

"Shit." She mutters and turns to leave when a hand snatches her wrist and pulls her back, pushing her against a wall. "What?" She sounds alarmed but Sasuke hushes her with a hard stare and she shrinks back.

"Be quiet and don't move. Hide your chakra and stay behind me."

"Wait."

"Shut up, Sakura." He snaps and then turns his attention to the door that is opening.

"In here, there should be someone…" Karin trails off when she is met with her team leader, sword stretched out. "Sasuke-kun?"

He lowers the katana.

"I felt another person in here." Karin mumbles awkwardly and her eyes suddenly catch a movement behind Sasuke. Her eyes squint and she takes a step forward.

"It's fine." Sasuke says quietly. "Leave."

"But…" She takes another step but Suigetsu grabs her elbow.

"Are you fucking deaf, you ugly bitch? Didn't you hear him?" With that he drags the red-head out, tossing Sasuke a glance from behind before suffering with the girl.

Her shrieks and defiant promises of death can be heard through the hollow walls of the complex.

Sasuke makes sure that the door is completely closed and his team is out of ears-shot before turning to Sakura. "You should leave. Now." He sheaths his sword and walks towards the door, making his exit when Sakura calls out to him.

"Wait."

He pauses and Sakura hates his back now more than ever.

"Will you turn to look at me, at least?" She murmurs.

He doesn't but gives her the knowledge that he is listening with the cock of his head.

"Shishou doesn't know I'm on this mission." She states, unhooking the holster of her weapons and sets it on the floor before she slides along the broken bricks and stones of the compound to sit.

Sasuke regards her with a quirk of his eyebrow and Sakura wishes she'd taken out his vocal cords. At least, he'd have a reason not to talk.

"She thinks I'm in Mist, gathering herbs." The medic explains, slumping her shoulders a little and managing to let down her guard in front of her enemy.

It's then that he sees her lowering her barrier does he speak. "You shouldn't be so relaxed." He comments, shoulders rigid.

"Are you going to kill me, Sasuke?" She asks again. Sakura does not bother to look up at him because she knows his reaction. There will be none.

"And if I do?"

"Can you?" She retorts. "I'm right here." She opens her arms and invites him, beckoning him to come with his sword.

Sasuke scoffs and Sakura is thankful that there is still that _twelveyearoldUchihaSasuke_ in him. "You are foolish."

The kunoichi nods her head and does not even protest to his insult. "Perhaps."

They seem to stay like that Forever but Sakura knows, even Sasuke knows, that Forever is a misguiding word.

She stands up, swiping her katana off the floor and hooks it into her back, tugging on the string a few times for security and faces him. "I'm sorry we can't continue this." She looks at him and Sasuke is struck with an odd feeling of seeing a familiar face.

"You can kill me now, Sasuke-kun." She pauses. "But you won't." She walks up to him and daringly cups her hand to his cheek. "I am foolish." Sakura whispers. "And so are you."

She does not give the Uchiha any time to deny it. She is already crouching on the window pane, preparing to leave. And before her departure, Sakura tosses him a smile that he can vaguely recall seeing six years ago.

"Us foolish people should stick together. I'll be coming back for more information." She laughs, and does the most unlikely Sakura thing he can possible think of.

She leaves without looking back.


End file.
